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pleaded guilty to the charge against her, admitting to possessing the cartridges but saying they were left in her luggage as part of an oversight while she was packing in a hurry. The U.S. State Department has floated the idea of a prisoner swap, in which the United States would release a convicted arms dealer in exchange for Griner and Paul Whelan, a former U.S.

It was one year ago on Friday that The Wall Street Journal‘s Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia on espionage charges that the U.S. government has called “fiction.”

can at last speak to her supporters on her own behalf. And on December 21, the WNBA star did just that, with a handwritten letter posted to Instagram thanking everyone who wrote to her while she was in prison.

Brittney Griner spoke out today for the first time since being freed from a Russian penal colony.

Brittney Griner is grateful to be home!

from her Russian detainment than her wife, Cherelle Griner, who spoke about the news at a press conference alongside President Joe Biden. Having been tireless in keeping Griner's name in the news , Cherelle was all smiles as she took to the podium to speak a few emotional words. “So over the last nine months, you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today I am just standing here overwhelmed with emotions,” Cherelle said, “But the most important emotion I have right now is just sincere gratitude for President Biden and his entire administration.” Cherelle didn't say a lot about herself, but used her time to thank the “many hands involved” in securing Griner's release, naming Vice President Kamala Harris and several otherwise unknown government officials who'd worked so hard to free Griner. This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Cherelle also hasn't forgotten Paul Whelan, another American prisoner who the Biden Administration was unable to include in the prisoner swap.

Brittney Griner is free.

, Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention today, December 8, . The outlet is also reporting that she was exchanged for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. According to an unamed US official, the WNBA star is now in the custody of the U.S.

U.S. basketball champion Britney Griner has been released by Russia in a prisoner swap and is now in U.S. custody.

to nine years in prison, her lawyer Maria Blagovolina on Monday. Griner was arrested for carrying a single vape cartridge containing less than a gram of hash oil.After six months in pretrial detention, the Phoenix Mercury star player was found guilty of drug possession on August 4.

Brittney Griner's legal team has appealed against the American basketball star's guilty verdict and nine-year prison sentence on drug smuggling charges in Russia, the lawyers said on Monday.Griner was arrested for carrying vape cartridges containing with marijuana in a Moscow airport in February amid soaring tension between Washington and Moscow, and just before Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched his ongoing assault on Ukraine.The athlete was on her way to Yekaterinburg, in western Russia, to play for a local team during the WNBA's off-season.Griner pleaded guilty to the charge but sought leniency, saying that she packed the cartridges inadvertently and marijuana was prescribed to her by a doctor in the U.S. to help her cope with pain from injuries sustained during her basketball career. In early August, a court in the Moscow region found her guilty.Before her trial began in July, the State Department designated her as being «wrongfully detained,» moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs — effectively the U.S.

Brittney Griner have filed an appeal against her prison sentence, Russian news agencies reported on Monday. Griner, an American basketball star for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison after being found guilty for drug possession. Griner was detained by Russian police at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on February 17 with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

Basketball player Brittney Griner has been found guilty of smuggling drugs with criminal intent in a Russian court today and sentenced to nine years in prison, CNN reports. The Phoenix Mercury player was detained near Moscow earlier this year after security discovered a small amount of the drug in her luggage.

pleaded guilty to the charge, but insisted she had never intended to break Russian law, and that the vape cartridges were in her luggage due to an oversight while packing in a hurry.The judge also fined Griner 1 million rubles, or about $16,300, as part of her sentence. According to The New York Times, Griner’s lawyers had asked the court to take into account Griner’s personality and the role she has played in the development of Russian basketball playing for EMMC Ekaterinburg in the WNBA off-season, asking for a “milder” penalty.Addressing the court, Griner talked about her upbringing in Houston and the values her parents instilled in her, including to “take ownership for your responsibilities.”“That’s why I pleaded guilty to my charges; I understand everything that has been said against me in the charges against me, but I had no intent to break Russian law,” she said.

Out lesbian US basketball player Brittney Griner was convicted by a Russian court on charges of drug possession and smuggling and sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday. US President Joe Biden denounced the verdict and sentence as “unacceptable” and called on Russia to release the athlete immediately so that she could be with her “her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates”. President Biden added that he would work to bring both Griner and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia under an espionage charge, home.  Brittney Griner with wife Cherelle.

Hoping for a solution. After Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smuggling in Russia, plenty of WNBA players and other celebrities weighed in to express their support for the athlete.

pleaded guilty to the charge, but insisted she had never intended to break Russian law, and that the vape cartridges were in her luggage due to an oversight while packing in a hurry.The judge also fined Griner 1 million rubles, or about $16,300, as part of her sentence. According to The New York Times, Griner’s lawyers had asked the court to take into account Griner’s personality and the role she has played in the development of Russian basketball playing for EMMC Ekaterinburg in the WNBA off-season, asking for a “milder” penalty.Addressing the court, Griner talked about her upbringing in Houston and the values her parents instilled in her, including to “take ownership for your responsibilities.”“That’s why I pleaded guilty to my charges; I understand everything that has been said against me in the charges against me, but I had no intent to break Russian law,” she said.

American basketball star Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years in prison and given a fine of 1 million rubles (approximately $16,500) by a Russian court on Thursday, after she was found guilty of drug possession and smuggling. Prosecutors had asked that she receive 9 1/2 years in prison.The trial concluded nearly six months after Griner's arrest at a Moscow airport in a case that has reached the highest levels of U.S.-Russia diplomacy, with Washington proposing a prisoner exchange.

William Earl Brittney Griner, the WNBA player who was tried in Russian court for drug smuggling after bringing cannabis oil into the country, has been sentenced to nine years in jail, the Associated Press reports.President Biden issued a statement about the verdict, writing, “Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.

Brittney Griner, the two-time U.S. Olympic gold medal basketball player and WNBA star, was found guilty Thursday in Russia of drug smuggling and possession and sentenced to nine years in jail. The news comes six months after Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport while entering the country with cannabis oil in her luggage.

Brittney Griner made her first court appearance Tuesday since the Biden administration revealed it was prepared to engage in a prisoner swap to free Griner and another U.S. citizen in Russian custody, Paul Whelan.Griner was detained in February in a Moscow airport and later charged with drug smuggling.

a CNN report of a U.S. offer to exchange American citizens detained in Russia, WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S.

CNN.Labeled the “Merchant of Death,” Bout is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence after being arrested during a federal sting operation in 2008. Bout, who was accused with conspiring to sell weapons to people who intended to kill Americans, was convicted of offering to sell weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, to federal agents posing as members of the guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.In exchange for Bout’s release, Russia would release Griner and Paul Whelan, a former U.S.

The United States government has proposed a prisoner swap with Russia that would see the return of Brittney Griner, CNN reports. Griner is an American basketball player with the Phoenix Mercury currently facing 10 years in prison in Russia for possession of cannabis – Griner has said during her trial that the cannabis was prescribed for chronic pain and that she brought it into Russia by accident.

Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, offering the first public glimpse at U.S.

Reuters reports. “I’d like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare.” Griner has been in Russian custody since February and her next court hearing is set for July 14, per the outlet.

Paul Whelan have said they are “astonished” that US President Joe Biden has not spoken to them personally while he remains detained in Russia. Elizabeth Whelan, the 49-year-old’s sister, said the Biden administration had not spoken with them since May in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. Hours earlier, Mr Biden said he and vice president Kamala Harris had spoken with the wife of the WNBA star Britney Griner amid her trial in Moscow and calls from her supporters for her release.